E93 
.U6834 



60th Congress, ) HOUSE OF KPIPRKSENTATIVES. JDocumexnt 
Ut Session. j ( No. 565. 



OFFICIAL BONDS OF AGENTS AND DISBURSING OFFICERS 
OF INDIAN DEPARTMENT. 



L E T T E E 

FROM 

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 

SUBMITTING 

A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION RELATING TO THE GIVING 
OF OFFICIAL BONDS BY UNITED STATES INDIAN AGENTS. 



January 27, 1908. — Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered tfH^e 

printed . 



Department of the Interior, 

WasJiington, January 21, 1908. 
Sir: For the purpose of simplifying the administrative procedure 
J .'lating to the giving of official bonds by United States Indian agents 
ad other disbursing officers of the Indian Department, I have 
formulated a draft of an amendment to the Indian appropriation 
act, as follows: 

Hereafter, when the Secretary of the Interior deems a new bond necessary, he may 
iii his discretion require any disbursing officer under the jurisdiction of the Office 
c ' Indian Affairs to execute a new bond witli approved sureties, in sucli amount as he 
may deem necessary, and, when accepted and approved by the Secretary of the 
Interior, the new bond shall be valid, and the surety or sureties on the prior bond 
shall be released from liability for all acts or defaults of the principal which may be 
one or committed from and after the day on which the new bond was approved. 

I respectfully suggest, if it meet your approval, that this proposed 
«.mendment be inserted in the Indian appropriation bill now being 
onsidered by your committee on page 12 after line 23. 

There has been special legislation to effect the purposes of this pro- 
posed amendment in the case of postmasters (R. S., 3837) and inter- 
lal-revenue collectors (20 Stat., 327), which appears to have safe- 
guarded the interests of the Government as well as relieved these 
officers and their Departments from the complications with which 
this Department now contends in such cases. 

Under the present law^s the following kinds of bonds are in use in the 
Department of the Interior: 



2 BONDS OF AGENTS AIS D DISBURSING OFFICERS INDIAN DEPT. 



Regular official, substitute, renewal, and cumulative. 

The necessity for this amendment is best explained as follows: 

At present the Secretary is authorized to require an officer to 
increase the amount of his official bond as often as necessary. This 
can be done by the giving of a cumulative bond, but though the penal 
amount of an officer's bonded liability may be thus increased there is 
no way by which it can be reduced and the necessity of paying pre- 
miums on his prior bond avoided unless he is reappointed. As an 
instance, one of the Indian agents was vmder a $200,000 regular 
official bond and was required to increase that bond by the rendition 
of a cumulative bond of $300,000, making his total hability $500,000. 
If this liability should be deemed excessive, and on a more thorough 
investigation of his accounts it probably will develop that it is exces- 
sive, there is no way by which it can be reduced and the officer 
relieved of the expense of paying high premium rates for a bond which 
good administration does not require. 

If tliis amendment becomes law, then, whenever it is desired to 
reduce the penal amount of an officer's liability, the officer can be 
authorized to file a new bond in such amount as is commensurate 
with the safety of Government funds in his hands, and the necessity 
for paying heavy premiums on his prior bond or bonds be avoided. 

Moreover, there will be no necessity for a cumulative bond when 
the penal amount of an officer's bond is increased, as he will then 
be required simplj^ to file a new bond of a sufficient amount and be 
held under one bond instead of several, thus avoiding the compli- 
cations liable to grow out of multiplied obligations. In case there 
is a defalcation, suit would then be brought on one bond only; 
whereas, if the officer were under a renewal bond or under one, two, 
or more cumulative bonds, the danger of technical obstructions 
would be proportionally increased. 
Very respectfully, 

James Rudolph Garfield, 

Secretary. 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



